I think that something close to prototype could be modeled, but not by me. I model eastern California and western Nevada much of which is desert. Don't need a lot of modeling skills to glue down some sand and rocks.

Some years back, I considered building a "for real" small railroad water crossing with a little ferry capable of hauling a little loco or maybe a couple of log cars across a creek. The creek would have been built as a section for an On30 Texas Outlaws modular layout. I bought (and still have) a Tamiya motorized tracked vechile kit with the idea of building the ferry on top of this. The motor unit appears to be "waterproof" so I thought that a little r/c board and battery could operate the thing which would run across the "creek" guided by a "slot car type track" underwater...Si, are you reading this? There would be short approaches on each side of the water way and I imagined that an r/c loco could get on the ferry and cross to the other side or maybe shuttle cars onto the ferry...get the idea? The module itself would be built with this water feature made with maybe waterproof plaster (if there is something like that) or textured with readi-mix concrete for the stream bed. Then the water could be a "muddy" real water tinted with dye so the the tracked mechanism underneath the ferry wouldn't be seen. BTW, the tracked drive is very low profile. This could be set up at shows, etc. wherever the group exhibited their layout. Of course all this would need to be hell-built for stout and no leaking allowed (I think it could be accomplished). Now, imagine such an operation, seems to be a sure "show stopper" if it worked as planned.
AND...using an r/c controlled loco, a real "low water" crossing could be done with the train running across a swampy creek, no ferry needed. I have seen photos of the real thing. And would that work? YES, I ran an r/c Porter in the axle deep water in my kitchen sink and she did just fine!

CRAZY Damn straight but then I believe it would work. I have no plans for this now but maybe somebody will bring this outrageous-ness to reality!
I triple dog dare you!

It would be easier to have the ferry run on a rail and pull it back and forth with a string and drum drive hidden somewhere out of the water. Can be fully automated to start, go to the other end into the slip, switch cars or trains as wanted and return to do the whole thing again on the other end. No waterproof mechanisms needed.
Jose.

____________________Junk is something you throw away three weeks before you need it.

pipopak wrote: It would be easier to have the ferry run on a rail and pull it back and forth with a string and drum drive hidden somewhere out of the water. Can be fully automated to start, go to the other end into the slip, switch cars or trains as wanted and return to do the whole thing again on the other end. No waterproof mechanisms needed.
Jose.